On Wednesday, 25 August 2010, at 18:00, Mario Nell, former UCT student and lecturer and currently full-time organ and harpsichord lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, will present an organ recital in the Baxter Concert Hall as part of the centenary celebrations of the SA College of Music.

Nell has chosen a single but extremely powerful and complex work for this concert, namely The Labyrinth by the Czech composer Petr Eben (1929-2007).

For much of his life Eben was fascinated by Comenius’s famous satirical allegory Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart (1623) and was known to have improvised extensively on this theme. The Labyrinth, his final work, is an evocative swan song in which the music is augmented with readings of extracts from Comenius’s text that Eben himself chose. Though deeply spiritual, the text is not necessarily restricted to any particular religion or denomination.

Eben has been described as one of the most expressive composers of the last 30 years and this particular piece is a journey of atmospheric beauty, drawing on the emotion of the Romantic period and elements of the present day.

The work lasts approximately 90 minutes and will be performed without an interval, as intended by the composer.

Tickets are R40, R35 for UCT staff, R25 for students and senior citizens and R20 for learners. Available through Computicket, Shoprite Checkers outlets andwww.computicket.com, as well as at the door 45 minutes before the performance.